Be sure to include your name, daytime phone number, address, name and phone number of legal next-of-kin, method of payment, and the name of the funeral home/crematory to contact for verification of death.

KC police, atheists, God’s miracles

Kansas City Mayor Sly James selected a “blue ribbon” committee to decide whether Kansas City should have local or state control over our police department. On the day to decide the most important decision they would make, four of the 29 members were absent and didn’t vote.

The vote was 13-12 to retain state control. That is 14 percent of the committee that didn’t participate. What’s so “blue ribbon” about that bunch? Pick me next time, Sly.

Roger Kamps

Kansas CityUnfair to Christians

Christian organizations that take stands for their core values are unfairly targeted by the media (11-12, A4, “Atheists feel snubbed”). The Kansas City Rescue Mission is facing undue criticism for declining the offer by the Kansas City Atheist Coalition to help deliver Thanksgiving meals containing a gospel message.

Would there be the same criticism if a Jewish organization deemed it unsuitable to accept help to aid Holocaust survivors from the National Socialist Movement, the neo-Nazi group that recently rallied downtown? What if the NAACP declined an offer by the Ku Klux Klan to help promote minority awareness?

I dare say the media would rally behind Jewish organizations’ and the NAACP’s right to stand up for their beliefs. Indeed, the Nov. 10 headline in The Star on the neo-Nazi rally said, “Freedom of speech reigns,” when diversity supporters appeared.

It is time to stop the criticism of Christians and Christian organizations that take a stand for their beliefs. I am outraged at the overblown media scrutiny and bias reserved for Christians.

Pamela Ray

BeltonCivic thank you

Thank you for putting in a great picture and fine Nov. 7 article, “KC opens door to civics lesson.” Aimee Larrabee is an outstanding Kansas City native (graduate of Southwest High School) and certainly deserves front-page attention to such an important and worthwhile national project.

Bill and Pat Ross

Kansas CityGod’s miracles

I look back at life’s adventures and believe that God was my leader. My parents encouraged this.

With that in mind, I knew that I must stay in touch with God. Throughout my life, I sought God’s leadership. God responded in what I call miracles. Some examples:

• A forest fire in the California mountains blocked an escape by my camper. We were told that many who were listening and watching TV joined us in prayer, asking God for help. The wind changed the direction of the fire, and we were saved.

• “Ann has polio. Rush her to the hospital in Des Moines,” said our doctor about our daughter. As we rushed down the highway, we wondered where the hospital was. We prayed, asking God for guidance. Suddenly, a motorcycle policeman appeared. When he heard our need he said, “Follow me.”

• I resigned from a position and asked God for help finding another job. My wife saw a want ad for a position. I applied and heard, “You are just the person we need.”

As people suffer worldwide, let’s ask God for wisdom in what we think, say and do, and then act.

Doug Sutherland

RaymoreBurying Obama ills

Millions of individuals’ health-insurance policies are being canceled, contrary to repeated assurances to the contrary by President Barack Obama and other supporters of Obamacare. Yet The Star saw fit to bury a story about the cancellations, the president’s reaction and the pressure from Democrats on him in the business section (11-13, A10, “Obama looking for ways to ease cancellations”).

Instead, the front page featured reports about retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor speaking to high school students and Gov. Jay Nixon’s recurring speech about Kansas poaching Missouri businesses.

Is this legitimate news reporting or just more of The Star’s pro-Obama, pro-Democrat editorial policy?

Jim O’Connell

ShawneeKeep KCI as is

I have hesitated for a while on commenting about changes proposed for Kansas City International Airport. But I have decided to put in my two cents’ worth.

I work for a very large corporation about three to five minutes from the airport.

I have people from all over the world and United States flying into KCI and coming to our company.

Several times recently, I have asked (because some people want to change KCI) the visitors what they think of our airport.

Not one time did they say they thought there needed to be a change as they were very pleased with our airport.

Please do not change our airport.

Brenda Beshears

GladstoneAshcroft, nude statue

A simple way to end the controversy as to whether the statue in the Overland Park Arboretum is indecent: Call ex-Attorney General John Ashcroft and have him put a blue curtain around it.

Don Rinck Sr.

MissionHelping women

As the founder of Art Bra KC, I am writing in response to the Nov. 10 “Stop being boobs” column in Star Magazine.

The mission of Art Bra KC, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is to uniquely celebrate breast cancer survivors and provide funding for area organizations that provide life-empowering services to uninsured and underinsured individuals who have been touched by cancer.

Every model who participates in Art Bra KC is a breast cancer survivor.

They all walk the runway with pride and courage — one with the aid of a walker — as friends and family members cheer them.

Uninsured/underinsured women agonize over the challenges of facing breast cancer without money.

We have raised more than $300,000 in the past three years for the Missys’ Boutique Patients in Need Fund at the University of Kansas Cancer Center, and we are branching out to help patients served by other health providers in the area.

The Kansas City Star was Art Bra KC’s exclusive print sponsor in years past, and I hope The Star will continue to help Art Bra KC accomplish its mission.

Sharon Butler Payne

Lee’s SummitObama’s travels

The national debt has ballooned in the last five years.

How much could it have been cut if we grounded Air Force One and and Air Force Two and allowed the president to stay home and take care of the country’s business?

Lowell Davis

Excelsior SpringsCapital punishment

Everyone who reads The Kansas City Star knows the editorial board is mired in left-wing radicalism and hence a mindless supporter of one of the worst and most partisan presidents the U.S. has ever known.

The editorial board’s stance on capital punishment is equally disturbing.

No matter how cruel or sadistic a killer is, The Star thinks that person’s life should be spared for several reasons, most of which are baseless.

In contrast, thousands of innocent human beings are violently aborted yearly in the U.S.

But that’s OK in the view of the editorial board because abortion is a woman’s choice. Compare thousands of innocent babies annually to a few dozen hardened criminals being peacefully put to sleep without pain.

It doesn’t make sense, but neither do most of the editorial board’s viewpoints.

Bill Barnes

TopekaCongress lacking

For the past two or three years, I have often thought that no person with any sense would be a member of Congress.

It looks like that has finally happened. The past few elections have sent many people with no sense to Congress.

Greg Klein

OlatheInspiring anthem lost

Every game I watch on television, I wait to see and hear the national anthem performed. But it is never shown.

Can’t the commercials be put somewhere else?

Hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” is such a moving experience. I miss it so much. Seeing the players at attention with their hats over their hearts is a very emotional moment.

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